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Today at 08:22 PM
The Juan Soto sweepstakes are a step closer to reaching a conclusion.
According to Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, the 26-year-old has begun the process of eliminating teams from contention for his services. However, Boras added that a decision is not imminent.
"When you're going through these things, he's just got a lot of information to meld through," Boras said. "We've had meetings with a number of franchises. He's begun the process of eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we'll see, but I don't think anything is imminent in the near future."
Boras discussed Soto’s free agency after attending co-client Blake Snell’s Los Angeles Dodgers introductory press conference on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
It has been reported that there are five teams in the running for Soto: the Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox.
The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal, Evan Drelich and Brendan Kuty wrote Tuesday that all remaining contenders in the bidding have made offers worth more than $600 million.
Rosenthal added that the industry expectation is that Soto will sign before the end of next week’s Winter Meetings, which run from Dec. 9-11, with the possibility that the left-handed hitting outfielder will make a decision before the meetings begin.
After an off-season trade brought Soto to the Yankees last December, the Dominican star helped the Bronx Bombers return to the World Series, posting a .989 OPS with 41 home runs, 128 runs scored and 109 RBIs. He finished third in AL MVP voting, won a fifth career Silver Slugger Award and was named to the All-MLB First Team.